Green-Eyed
by Sine amore nihil est vita
Summary: Sai meets the green-eyed monster for the first time and the encounter leads to an unexpected outcome. SaiIno One shot #2.


**A/N: Inspiration has finally struck which was born from the thumbnail picture (which I do not own)**

 **The reason I heart** **this pairing is that the dynamic of their relationship leaves so much to be explored.**

 **Disclaim: obvs Masashi Kishimoto owns all characters.**

 **One-shot. S** **ai meets the green-eyed monster for the first time, and the encounter leads to an unexpected outcome.**

* * *

The sun was shining brightly across a backdrop of halcyon blue sky, and its intense heat was beating down on the land below. Against such perfect weather there stood a lone figure cloaked in black. He had taken up position on the outskirts of Konoha but was not alone for long as a blonde kunoichi was fast approaching. Her brows were set in a frown as the faintest wind worked to tease strands of her hair free from her trademark ponytail. She stopped short of the figure whose face lay beneath a thick hood.

"It's time to drop the dramatic airs," Ino chided then, "You are the one who asked me to come here."

In response, hands came forth to pull back the hood, and Ino was met with ink blue hair and a face from her childhood. His black eyes were as dead as ever.

Sasuke.

Ino was surprised that she could even remember how he looked for he always left for years on end.

Ino folded her arms across her chest while she tried to maintain her composure. "What do you want?"

It was some time before there was a response as Sasuke took in the sight of his former classmate. There was fierce disdain etched onto her face, which many deemed conventionally beautiful. It was for a fleeting moment that Sasuke wondered why he warranted such strong emotions from her. After all, he barely acknowledged her existence. Even to this day, she was unworthy of his time.

"You're going tell Sakura that I want to marry her," Sasuke said then.

The declaration caused Ino to become stuck as she wondered if she had miss heard. Yet even when the information had sunk in she was still unable to comprehend it. Ino's arms slowly fell to her sides as her features became warped in shock. Her lips parted as her brain rattled. "I don't understand."

Sasuke remained unmoved.

After breaking free of her initial stupor Ino's forehead creased. "Why don't you ask her?"

The sole Uchiha clan member restrained his annoyance at having to deal with her nonsensical statements. "I don't have time. I am just passing through," he told her.

At this moment Ino realised that Sasuke had only approached her because she had already been on the outskirts of Konoha while cleaning Shin's grave.

Ino scoffed at the stupidity of her situation. "Is that the real reason or are you just emotionally challenged?"

Sasuke remained deadpan. "You mean like that ex-substitute team seven-member that you are in a non-relationship with," he rebuffed coolly.

Ino gritted her teeth as her defensive nature came through. "At least he isn't a pardoned international criminal," she quipped back.

Ino advanced on him then. "What is your game? Are you trying to revive the Uchiha clan or something? That must be the reason you want to marry because I distinctly remember that you tried to kill Sakura once."

Unbeknownst to Ino a fair distance away, there was a spectator who was watching her heated tirade. The pale shinobi's eyes were wholly fixed upon the scene. His eyebrows raised in response to Ino's visceral reactions. There was a fire there, and it was more than she had ever expressed around him.

Sai had decided against moving closer, for he was not reckless. He knew that Sasuke would discover him. There was a downside to the distance though: Sai could not make out a word. He could only watch Sasuke and Ino's body language, which was not helpful to the ex-root member who was still forming his emotional intelligence.

However, Sai had taken to substituting his deficit by borrowing the impressions others had gained. For example, It was common knowledge in Konoha that Ino had been infatuated with Sasuke since she was young and that she had even rejected her best friend Sakura because of her feelings for him.

Why did this man warrant such strong emotions from Ino? What was so special about him?

Sai felt a heat rising in his chest as the muscles in his jaw became tightly set. He was objective enough. Sai could easily recognise that Sasuke's power and superiority of skill far outweighed his own. But was this what women in society valued above constructs such as loyalty to Konoha or a man's character? Sai had once read that aesthetic's were necessary. He could not judge this of Sasuke but could decipher that it was something he possessed for Sai had heard many women discuss his virtues.

There was some underlying 'thing' that was eating away at Sai as he continued to watch Ino and Sasuke. He could not identify it, but it fuelled the heat within him.

Sai's frown lines deepened as he tried to decipher why Ino would have kept such a meeting quiet. To Sai's surprise for the first time, he regretted visiting Shin's grave for if he had not, he would never have stumbled upon this scene. As if possessed though, Sai continued to watch and, in the process, he was unknowingly causing himself more internal distress.

~ooOoo~

 **Later that day**

Word travels fast. This sentiment was exact of Konoha even though the village had undergone massive expansion during the post-war years. Even now, as a city, word -of- mouth was still very much alive.

Whispers followed Sai, and despite his best efforts, he could not drown them out.

"Can you believe he came back to Konoha just to see her?" a voice gossiped.

"They must be together," another affirmed.

"But I heard that she was yelling at him," a third voice excitedly added.

"No doubt angry that he has been away so long," the first stated factually.

Sai quickened his pace for his temples were throbbing in response to every word that assaulted his ears. The heat which had taken light inside his chest since the morning had still not left him.

It felt like forever before Sai finally reached his place of solitude. In the clearing of trees and on a high hill, Sai quickly retrieved his paper and sat down to draw. He needed to empty his head of the voices of others by creating art.

However, they remained there despite his best efforts.

 _I was sure that Ino was with Sai._

He then remembered the answering scoff.

 _That's ridiculous. It's Sasuke she is with not Sai._

Sai's fingers quivered in reaction to the statements he had overheard, and as a result, the lines he drew became increasingly less perfect. With his teeth clenched, Sai pushed too hard, and the pencil tip snapped. It resulted in a puncture appearing in his artwork where the paper had given way.

"Sai," he heard a voice call just then. It was one that he knew well but the purity of which he no longer believed. It was the one person who knew of his quiet place. Sai looked up then only to find Ino. She was smiling as she approached. Her features were showing no evidence of the anger which she had displayed mere hours ago. She was deceiving him.

"Go," Sai without warning, and he was unaware of the edge to his voice.

Ino was affronted. "What?"

The young kunoichi stopped short of him, and her smile was quick to slip. Ino could not miss the way Sai's eyes were slightly twitching for the rest of his face remained still. "What's wrong S-"

"I don't want you here," Sai interrupted as he fixed her with an intense stare.

It was only now that Ino realised she was wrong to assume that she could find solace in Sai's company after her encounter with Sasuke. Wounded by Sai's coldness, her anger came out. "Fine," she snapped before walking off in a huff.

Despite his best efforts, Sai's eyes remained transfixed upon Ino's form, and they followed her as she disappeared through the trees. Even when she was long gone, he could not look away. Sai thought that Ino's absence would have eased the heat building in his chest, but it didn't. He was no better off and unjustifiably he found that he wanted her back despite asking her to leave. Unable to process his feelings, Sai threw his pad as far as it would go. He gave up on his art then.

 _What have you done to me?_

~ooOoo~

The whispers only intensified over the next few days as the occupants of Konoha discovered that Sasuke had intended to propose to Sakura. Sai once again found it impossible to avoid overhearing.

"Ino is looking dreadful," a woman gossiped.

"I bet it is because she and Sakura have been arguing," another added. "This will end their friendship once and for all."

Suddenly Sai was thrown off balance as a force knocked into his shoulder. It was an unexpected attack that he should have been prepared for as a shinobi. Sai stumbled back slightly in the middle of the street before his head came up in surprise.

Choji was there with his arms flexed as he cracked his knuckles in an overt display of threat. Behind him stood Shikamaru who looked as relaxed as ever.

"We told you before we would confront you anytime Ino was upset," Shikamaru stated coolly.

Sai merely continued to stand there as he pondered on the possibility that everyone in Konoha was crazy.

"You should be confronting Sasuke then," Sai replied expressionlessly. "Although I don't know-how as he is not here."

Choji tightened his hands into fists in preparation while Shikamaru remained unphased. "No. We are confronting the right man," he confirmed.

 **Meanwhile**

A few streets down from the confrontation in the best-known flower shop, Ino was sitting alone in the semi-darkness. There had been those who had knocked against the glass of her shop and wondered why she had closed early. Ino merely ignored them. She just drew her knees to her chest and rested her head against the wall. She remained curled up in the back room of her shop: Out of sight and out of mind.

Ino had fought with Sakura. It had been there first serious fight since the days when they hated each other. Why had Sakura not listened to her? Why would she even consider Sasuke? Ino's advice had fallen on deaf ears. However, this was not the only reason Ino found herself alone. Sai had continued in his refusal to see her, and he did so without so much as an explanation despite her constant pursuit.

 _How can, he be so cold?_

Ino thought that she would have got used to Sai and that slowly with her influence, he would start to change. She believed that eventually, he would come to understand her feelings for him but now Ino was beginning to think that her pursuit of him was a lost cause. She had not made an impact on Sai.

Suddenly there was knocking again.

"Leave me alone!" Ino said out loud despite herself.

Whoever was there did not listen though, and with exhaustion, rimmed eyes, she looked up at the sound of the constant knocking. It was strange, but there was a feeling inside of her that made her get up this time. With shaky limbs, Ino struggled to stand, but eventually, she managed to make her way towards the shop floor. Rounding the corner, Ino caught sight of the front door and there on the other side of the glass stood Sai. He stopped knocking as soon as he saw her.

Ino merely blinked while Sai remained still.

No words were exchanged: This had something to do with Ino being slow to realise that he wasn't a figment of her imagination.

With eventual realisation, she moved to open the door. "Sai…?"

Sai suddenly moved into the store then, and Ino staggered back in her attempts to accommodate him. It was only then that another figure caught Ino's eye. She turned to find that Shikamaru was also present and that there was a shadow path that trailed behind Sai's feet and ended at his.

"Sort it out," Shikamaru simply stated before he made Sai shut the shop door on him.

Sai only regained control of his body when Shikamaru left.

There was a deafening silence when the pair were left alone together, and for Ino, it was due to the authentic humiliation she experienced at that moment. To know that Sai had been brought to her under duress. Did he despise her company that much?

"You don't have to stay," Ino quickly informed as she made a move to leave.

Her efforts were brought to a swift halt, though when a hand encircled her wrist. Ino's eyes came up in surprise, and she was met with Sai's expressionless face.

"I will stay," he told her, and when Sai clocked his outstretched arm, he remembered himself and let go of Ino.

She instinctively brought a hand to her wrist as she tried to calm the nerves which tingled from his touch.

Without warning, Sai moved away from her then. All Ino could do was watch on perplexed as he walked across the shop and stopped at her counter. There was a half-finished bouquet on display there, and Sai's fingers came to grip a particular white flower.

 _Chrysanthemums._ Ino identified in her mind.

Sai took to rotating the flower in his hand as he continued to inspect its thin petals. "You know I saw this at Shin's grave the day you met Sasuke," he stated tactlessly.

An audible gasp filled the room, and Sai flicked his attention back to Ino. Her eyes had grown full and round like those of a rabbit's stuck in headlights. Ino's heart raced, and this caused the thumping of blood to fill her ears.

"You…" Ino's whisper trailed off.

Sai merely pushed the flower back into its rightful place within the arrangement. "Yes. I saw you," he confirmed.

Why did such simple words fill Ino with so much dread? She was chilled to the bone, yet she also felt herself perspire. Did she owe Sai anything though? Did she have to explain meeting Sasuke to him?

Still stuck in her internal dialogue, she was unaware that Sai was put out by her lack of response. The pale shinobi was surveying her from the corner of his eye. He was witnessing the cogs turning in her head, and he was concluding that this was an admission of her wrongdoing.

"Is there a particular reason why you would meet a person who betrayed Konoha?" Sai asked without warning.

Ino continued to open and close her mouth like a floundering fish. Despite there being no malice in Sai's words and that his voice remained even, there was something that just felt different somehow.

"I…" she struggled. "He… he just wanted me to propose the idea of marriage to Sakura."

Sai's back grew stiff then as he realised that her explanation would validate her responses of anger that day. "Some people doubt this because it doesn't explain why you met him in secret."

Ino started at Sai's line of questioning.

"I didn't meet him in secret," came her quick reply yet her voice cracked slightly. "I didn't know I was going to meet him that day. It happened by chance."

Sai fixed her with a blank stare then, and Ino found herself taking a step back as his hollow gaze left an impression on her heart.

Sai merely studied her. "Your wavering voice would indicate a lie. Why would you lie?"

Ino furiously shook her head. "I'm not lying."

The heat which Sai had experienced days before ignited once again. Why didn't he believe her? He had never doubted her before.

"You don't sound convincing," he vocalised then.

Ino just stared awestruck. She didn't understand what was going on. Slow to register the full implications of his response Ino was mute for some time. That is until the total weight of his statement hit her.

Ino furrowed her brows. "Are you saying that I am lying?"

"You could be since you didn't tell anyone about the meeting," Sai replied rationally.

There was a slight twitch to his face then, and it caused Ino's rising anger to pause. Her face slowly relaxed as she came to realise that there was something more going on than she had first appreciated.

"Is this really because I didn't tell anyone or because I didn't tell _you_?" Ino put forth cautiously.

It was with such a simple statement that Sai lost all objectivity. He no longer felt detached from the situation as the word 'you' was so personal. It implied him and him alone. _Me?_ Sai's searching gaze was enough to send Ino running to hug him, but she restrained her emotions. There was a struggle happening behind his dark eyes: It was the discussion between reason and feeling.

Sai met her gaze then, and Ino felt her heart quicken.

His forehead creased as he concentrated on her. "Yes," he suddenly realised at that moment. "You didn't tell me."

After the surprising admission, a quietness settled between the pair as they both stood in the fading light of the days' sun and a new-found truth.

In response to her raising discomfort, Ino began to pace about the room. She took to twisting her fingers together. "Oh. I see," Ino said more to herself than him. She was quick to gesture at Sai then. "You didn't give me a chance to tell you though," she defended, "You didn't want me around you. Remember?"

Sai was irrational. It was becoming increasingly apparent to him, and in reaction, he began to pace instead of Ino.

"Sai. What is truly wrong?" She asked him.

Sai opened his mouth then as he imaged that he could express the cause of his pent-up energy. His lips moved as he tried to formulate a response. However, no words came out, and after some time Sai settled for expelling a frustrated sigh as he turned away from her.

It was then that Ino smiled sadly at him. The need to comfort Sai overwhelmed her, yet once again, she checked the impulse.

Suddenly though Ino spotted a pencil and sheets of paper, and an idea came to her. "You could show me instead," Ino suggested as she gestured to the counter in front of him.

Feeling surprisingly drained Sai brought a stool towards the counter. He merely sat in defeat and stared at the blank paper before him. For the first time, it was daunting for him to put what was in his mind onto paper. It took time for Sai to take up the pencil and with a discreet swallow, he began.

Ino was quick to move to his side and also sit. By this time Sai's nimble fingers were gliding across the thin sheets as he created image after image. Ino watched as scenes formed before her of the memories that she had shared with Sai from the first time she had forced him to try tofu and he liked it to their first new year's together. However, the images didn't stay the same for long, and with furrowed brows, Ino witnessed Sai's face change with a few pencil strokes. They transformed into Sasuke's. Unable to make sense of what she was seeing Ino's gaze settled on the image of a pair of women whispering behind their hands for Ino could understand the meaning behind this.

"What have they been saying?" She asked Sai pointedly.

There was an ache inside of Sai then that he could not understand. "They say that I look like him, that I am just his replacement in both team 7 and for..." his voice trailed off. "Is this why you spend time with me?"

Immediately Ino grabbed Sai's arm when she realised what he was asking her. "No!" she vehemently stated. "If I thought you were anything like him, I would never want to see you again!".

Sai managed to face Ino then. There was no mistaking the truth to her words, and the fire had returned in her eyes. She was baring her honesty.

"But you have been upset that he wants to marry Sakura," Sai stated quietly.

Ino shook her head in disbelief as this was not Sai talking. "Why are you borrowing other people's impressions?" she asked, her voice laced with hurt.

There was an uncharacteristic sigh then as Sai's shoulders sagged. "Because I don't know how to form my own," he stated openly.

Ino's grip on his arm loosened at the admission. Her eyes became downcast as she nodded gently. "I know. I don't blame you."

Sai felt a gentle flicker inside of himself at her understanding. She was patient with him, unlike the majority of Konoha. Many of them had just turned away from him. He was too challenging to deal with due to his inability to understand the social norms. Sai knew that he was an outcast because of it.

"If you want to know how I'm feeling, then you should just ask me," Ino suggested.

There was silence for a moment as Sai thought about what to ask her first. "Is it true that you liked him when you were young?" he settled for finding out.

Ino heavily sighed as she wondered if she would ever be able to escape that part of her life. "Yes. I did," Ino admitted.

There was momentary hesitation then as Sai wondered if he wanted to know more. "Are you upset because of him?"

Ino was quick to shake her head.

"Then why have you been?" Sai followed up.

"I…" Ino began but faltered as she realised that she had to be honest with Sai, "because...because you didn't want me around."

"You were upset because of me?" Sai repeated. It was strange how the mere idea caused the heat in his chest to ease slightly. It shouldn't be this way as it was a contradiction. Why would he want her to be upset because of him? Then again If she was upset with him, then that meant that she wasn't upset because of-

It was at that moment when Sai looked down at his drawings, that something clicked.

Sai pushed the paper towards Ino then. "Which one of us is it then?" he asked urgently, and the quiver to his voice was unmistakable.

Ino looked down in confusion, that is until she noted that one image had remained unaltered. Sai's face remained while the rest depicted Sasuke. Ino could practically feel a strange tension settle in the air around her and Sai. Almost as if she was hyper-aware of him by her side. She felt every movement he made. His intense gaze boring holes into the side of her face: It was then that Ino's eyes misted over. Her lips quivered as she realised the significance of Sai's question. Her sign had come. The one that she had been waiting on.

Impulsively, Ino took Sai's face in her hands.

Sai nearly stood up from the intimacy of the gesture. All he could do was watch stunned as Ino pressed her forehead to his. Sai could no longer register anything but the tingling of his skin that she touched. His breath caught in his throat as he realised that he had never been this close to any person before.

Ino's eyes closed then and a slow smile formed on her face. "You," she finally whispered, and if the answer had not fanned across his face, Sai would have thought he had heard wrong.

"I chose you a long time ago," Ino added, "But you just weren't ready to hear it."

Sai swallowed hard as he found water collecting at the corner of his eyes. An absurd response yet his body was reacting, in a way that was out with his control. Sai found himself hungrily reaching for Ino. His fingers brushed against her cheek, and he noted that they took on a pink shade.

"Why?" Sai found himself asking, breathily.

Her smile broadened. "Because I love you," Ino answered freely.

The statement sent shockwaves through Sai. Whatever the answer he was expecting this was indeed not it. How could she?

Ino felt Sai's face become instantly taunt underneath her hands and her eyes sprang open. She was quick to release him.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have said that... I...You don't have to say anything in return," Ino stumbled to reassure as she moved back in her chair. She had said too much!

Sai found it harder to breathe somehow, but at least the distance Ino had created had helped break her spell.

"You love me?" He asked incredulously.

Ino was desperately pressing her hands to her face to calm the raging fire there. She shrank into herself, wishing the ground to swallow her up.

"Is that why you spend time with me?" Sai pondered out loud.

Ino answered with a slight nod.

Sai merely studied the blushing mess beside him as he watched her mixed emotions manifest themselves physically. In her state and from where she sat in the suns fading light, she looked more appealing to him than usual.

"What do you want from me, though?" Sai asked, robotically, "People never do things selflessly forever, even if they are as you say in love."

Ino was unable to function even though Sai was only looking back at her struggled to tell even her half-truth. "I just want you to accept how I feel."

Sai was now leaning in dangerously close to Ino as curiosity took him. "There must be something more you want from me because from what I have read this still sounds too one-sided," he stated.

Ino's face was still alight, and all she could do was stare. Unable to say anything, it was only the distant sounds of the world outside the store that filled the space between them. Sai cupped Ino's chin firmly and forced her head up then. Black eyes became fixed upon blue ones, and Sai searched their depths for the truth that he didn't know that she so frantically wanted him to find.

Without thinking, Sai pressed his lips to Ino's then. He discovered that his eyes automatically closed. Ino's lips were soft yet taut underneath his own. The touch alone made Sai instantly feel more human as if he had made a connection somehow. His first experience of such a gesture made him realise then that it was indeed pleasant and something that he could not accurately explain in words.

Just as suddenly as the kiss had started, it ended. "You must want me to return your feelings," Sai said quietly then as if nothing had interrupted his dialogue.

Earth-shattering shock prevented Ino from responding, but it did not stop her from springing to her feet. She nearly tripped over the stool in her attempts to getaway. Sai's hand came out, but Ino studied herself before his help was needed. His kiss had been entirely chaste, and yet Ino found herself quaking so harshly inside. Her face had taken on a vivid shade of red.

Sai found it oddly gratifying that his actions had caused her to act in this way. She was usually so strong and confident.

Ino was met with a ghost of a smile then, and her heart thrummed. His rare sincere smile was enough to bring out her shyness to the fullest extent. _What has gotten into him?_

Ino created some much-needed distance then as she backed up against the nearby wall. "I...I don't understand," she managed to push out.

Sai merely stood and moved towards Ino. _What has gotten into her?_ She was not acting like her usual self.

"I think you've underestimated the extent of your efforts and how they have affected me," Sai enlightened then, "You not only saved me in the land of silence but you went into my mind. You saw all the darkness there. Do you realise how intimate your clan technique is?"

Ino had taken to skirting along the wall trying to evade him for reasons she didn't know.

Sai merely pursued her as he continued. "You've taken care of me when I have been sick. You've forced your company on me every day to the point where I now miss your presence when you are away."

His words were ringing in Ino's ears.

"Now that I know you did this for me and not because I look like someone you liked that changes my view on things," Sai finished.

Despite longing for it, Ino had never prepared herself for Sai's growth. Tears were raising in her eyes. They threatened to fall for Ino had never heard Sai express himself this way before.

By now, Sai had reached her. He stepped into Ino's space and took her face in his hands. The warmth of his touch was enough to undo her. Sai reacted by wiping away the wet trails that were quick to form on her skin.

 _If she does love me, then my words should make her happy._ "Are you happy or sad about what I've said?" Sai asked then to confirm.

Ino's hands came to hold Sai's arms for support. She managed to smile through the tears. "Happy. Definitely happy."

The ghost of a smile returned before soft laughter escaped Sai. So overwhelmed was he that Sai began to act out in ways he had seen couples do. He began to nuzzle the side of Ino face as he held her close. Ino desperately held onto Sai as she stifled the sobs that threatened to mar the moment: She did not want anything to falter his happiness which was so palpable to her through the heat of his skin.

It was strange how Sai suddenly felt free: Whatever distress and tension he had experienced over the past few days left him. On their own accord, Sai's hands became lost in Ino's hair as he manoeuvred her lips to meet his. He noted that they were wet this time and tasted slightly salty. There seemed to be a yearning within him to continue touching his lips to hers.

It was the lightest of touches to Ino, yet her mind fell into complete disarray. She half sobbed half laughed against Sai's mouth in between his unpractised kisses. Relief, as she had never experienced before took her as months of wishful thinking, became a reality. It was almost too much.

Already feeling greedy, she yearned for more of him. Regaining her confidence, Ino brought her arms around Sai's neck. She pulled herself up onto her toes so that she could reach more of him. Ino pushed her lips harder against his as she leaned into his body.

Sai momentarily faltered in reaction to the physicality of Ino's response. There was an ardent underlying emotion that she expressed, which he found wholly compelling.

He wanted to discover it for himself.

 _In time._ He thought blissfully.

* * *

 **The End**


End file.
